Computer Assisted Personal Interviews (CAPI) Surveys in use in the OECS

OECs Media Release

Tuesday, May 30, 2017 — The OECS Commission has partnered with the Central Statistics Office in Saint Lucia to conduct training in Computer Assisted Personal Interviews (CAPI) Surveys for the BVI's, Montserrat and St. Kitts and Nevis, which is aimed at making the data collection process much easier when statisticians visit households.

The innovative training which is taking place at the Central Statistics Office, Saint Lucia from the 29th May - 2nd June uses the Survey Solutions technology developed by the World Bank and seeks to enhance skills so that the beneficiary National Statistical Offices (NSOs) are prepared for their respective household CAPI surveys.

The transition from paper-based to CAPI surveys will modernise the process of data collection; making data processing more efficient, improving data quality and significantly minimising production costs. CAPI also helps to speed up data dissemination.

The OECS Commission, through the Living Standards Measurement Committee (LSMC), agreed to introduce CAPI as the primary means of data collection. This commitment entails a gradual shift from the traditional paper and pencil interviews (PAPI) to computer-based data collection for the measurement of living standards.

The training was organised by the OECS Commission’s Statistical Services Unit under the Enhanced Country Poverty Assessment (CPA) Project and funded by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the World Bank Trust Fund for Statistical Capacity Building.

About The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States

The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) is an International Organisation dedicated to economic harmonisation and integration, protection of human and legal rights, and the encouragement of good governance among independent and non-independent countries in the Eastern Caribbean. The OECS came into being on June 18th 1981, when seven Eastern Caribbean countries signed a treaty agreeing to cooperate with each other while promoting unity and solidarity among its Members. The Treaty became known as the Treaty of Basseterre, so named in honour of the capital city of St. Kitts and Nevis where it was signed. The OECS today, currently has ten members, spread across the Eastern Caribbean comprising Antigua and Barbuda, Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St Vincent and The Grenadines, British Virgin Islands, Anguilla and Martinique.